Ashes
by siberia88
Summary: Sho's attempt to confess his love was rejected by Kei. Deeply hurt, he got careless and terrible things happened... Kei x Sho
1. Chapter 1

Summary: Sho's attempt to confess his love was rejected by Kei. Deeply hurt, he got careless and terrible things happened... Kei x Sho. (slash / yaoi)

Timeline: Set after Sho had met Son & Yi-Che, and before Toshi died.

Title: Ashes

Note: _Italic_ is usually thought.

Part 1

It was a Saturday night.

In a tiny apartment, Kei leaned against the wall, watching Sho in his bedroom pulling out different clothes from the closet and laying them on the bed, apparently trying to decide on the apparel for his night's outing.

"Where is my leather pant... hm...?" Sho muttered while flipping through the hangers.

Kei couldn't help but smiled, there were at least 5 leather pants that had been pulled out and tossed carelessly on the bed.

As he continued to watch Sho, Kei realized this was what he did most of the time; leaning on the wall, watching Sho. This was the position he normally assumed when they went out on their nightly "jobs", and he was doing the same thing when they hanged out with Toshi and Son. Kei supposed he had grown accustomed to watching his little friend, or he should rephrase that, as Sho had now grown taller than him. Sho had been merely a little boy when they first met. Kei looked over Sho's features. There had been many changes from the little boy. The features were harden and toughened by the cruelness of life and age. Sho's features remained delicate, to the point where one could almost called it "beautiful" or "feminine", but the fierceness of his eyes told everyone that he was neither delicate nor fragile. In his lithe body wields a soul that's strong and never bending. He had already known suffering and pains since young, and knew what it took to live on the streets. Yet, somehow, a part of Sho remained innocent. There was always a twinkle in Sho's eyes that seemed pure and full of life, which attracted Kei and made "Sho watching" his constant habit.

As Kei watched Sho finally made up his mind on the clothing and pulled up his favorite skin tight leather pants, he wondered if he should ask the young man where he was heading tonight.

But before Kei had a chance to get his question out, Sho had pulled opened the door and left.

"Don't wait up." was all that Sho left for him.

XXX

"Woman... it must be with a woman..." Kei thought, "Sho is going out on a date." _Most probably Yi-Che._ He added as an afterthought.

Well, Sho was at this age now. He would be interested in woman, among other things, such as having a life besides cooping in a house with no sunlight and staying company with his vampire friend. Kei thought miserably. He knew this will happen, sooner or later.

Slowly, he drifted to his own room and lay on the bed, trying to sleep.

XXX

Kei woke up with a start. He looked out and he could see it's still dark out there. He couldn't have been asleep for more than 2 hours. Then he realized the sound that woke him up was from the closing of the apartment door. Sho had returned.

_Only 2 hours?_ Kei wondered silently, as he listened on Sho's footstep. To his surprise, the footstep trailed towards his bedroom. It paused there for a minute or two, then a sigh, and then the footstep trailed away into Sho's bedroom.

XXX

Toshi came over the next day.

"Sho, did you have a good time last night?"

"Pissed off." Sho was not in a good mood. If it was anybody else hearing the icy tone, they would have left the guy alone. But Toshi, of course, was not just anybody else. His insistence on annoying Sho sometimes made Kei wondered if Toshi was indeed the bravest them of all.

"Oh come' on, spill the juicy details." Toshi winked as if he didn't see Sho's glare, "I saw you with a woman last night. Too bad I didn't see her face, but the general direction you two were walking was towards the love hotels district. So?"

"Nothing, ok. Now shut up."

"WHAT?" Toshi exclaimed in disbelief, "Are you crazy? You went out with a woman and you didn't do anything?"

"Because I went out with your MOM! Now get the hell out of here." Sho barked back.

"Are you a man or not?" Toshi shouted back, "Or are you... useless? Incompetent? Unable to..."

"Shut up and get out before I shot you!"

"Fine!" Toshi grabbed his stuff, "Remind me next time to deliver pizza glazed with Viagra to you when you go out with a date so that you can at least go for a minute or two!"

The door was slammed against Toshi's face.

The apartment was once again quiet, except for Kei's silent snicker. Sho wisped around and glared at Kei. For a minute or two he looked like he was about to barked the same command at Kei to leave the house. Then his shoulder slumped and he merely sat down on the sofa.

By then Kei realized something was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Kei asked in a quiet voice.

"I went out with Yi-Che." Sho said, avoiding eye contact with Kei.

"Oh."

"That's it?" Sho's head shot up, staring at Kei, "Oh That's it? Don't you care that I went out with the woman you like?"

"What?" Kei was almost as surprised as Sho had been, "Yi-Che? I like her?"

"Don't you?" Sho asked, "I saw you looking at her. ALWAYS looking at her in a special way."

"No, you're wrong."

Sho scanned Kei's face as if looking for signs of lies. When he saw none, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"I only went out with her because I thought you like her."

That logic seemed so strange that Kei looked at Sho in puzzlement.

"Don't you get it?" Sho sighed, "I don't like her. I just don't want her to like you. I don't want you two together."

Why?

Kei was slowly putting the pieces together, but he remained quiet.

It must have been difficult to confess one's feelings under the vampire's nonchalant stare, but Sho had to try.

"I..."

"Say no more." Kei whispered. "It can never be."

"Please, Kei..."

"No, have you forgotten what I am?" Kei suddenly screamed.

"No, I haven't." Sho spoke quietly at first, then his voice grew in both volume and strength, "But I don't care. I don't give a damn what you are. I only know this... I love you... I have loved you for so long... maybe since I was a child... you are always there for me. You... you are gentle, caring, and... and beautiful..."

"Stop! Never say I'm beautiful." Kei interrupted harshly. "I'm a monster; not worthy of that word."

"But Kei, you're the most beautiful person I know. Not just in appearance, but also in your soul." Sho said, "None of the people I've met, not even Yi-che, can be compared to you. Kei, I love you."

"I don't. love. you."

Sho stared at Kei. The words were like a knife driving deep into his chest, cutting it opened again and again.

Turning around, he ran. That was the only way to escape from those hurtful words.

Behind him, Kei collapsed onto the floor.

XXX

Sho walked down the street, trying to hold back the tears of despair.

"Kei didn't love me. He said he doesn't love me. He said no, no, no, no, no..."

The words replayed over and over in his mind.

Even in his distraught, he still noticed two people tailing him.

_I have just been rejected by the love of my life. Can't you bastards give me a moment here?_

_Fine, have it your way. You two deserved to DIE!_

Sho thought violently as his fingers closed on the guns beneath his shirt and he began walking down a deserted alley, away from the crowd. The two followed a few steps behind.

Sho suddenly turned around with the gun in his hand.

**Bang! bang!**

One fell to the ground, lifeless, while the other managed to escape into the abandoned building nearby.

"Damn it!" Sho cursed. Normally he would have just leave, but today was different. He wanted, needed to shoot and kill. In his rage and hurt, he carelessly followed into the building, and walked straight into a trap.

Sho didn't even realize he was ambushed until suddenly tens of men came out of nowhere. Clearly outnumbered, he shot his best and looked for a chance to run. The chance never came and soon his gun was out of bullets. It then became a fist fight, of him against 7 or 8 men. His punch broke one's nose, and his kick to the groin of another sent the poor guy lying on the floor groaning. Sho grinned knowing that guy won't be able to use that particular part of his for weeks. His victory was unfortunately short lived as he was soon overwhelmed by the sheer number of the enemies.

Both arms being grabbed from behind, followed by two heavy punches to his stomach left him panting and seeing stars. A kick to his knees sent him kneeling down on the floor, with 2 guys holding each of his arms, and two more guys pinning down on each of his leg, effectively immobilized him.

"Boss, we have got him."

"So you are the little thief that has been stealing from me?" A gun was shoved beneath his chin, tilting his head up. Sho's blazing eyes glared at the tall man standing in front of him.

"Such spirit..." The gun trailed across his face, "and beauty..." The man known as Chan seemed genuinely surprised. "I hadn't guessed you possessed such a beautiful face, my little thief."

"I was going to cut off your limbs and scratched out your eyes and then killed you as a sign of warning for others... but it would be an unforgivable sin to destroy one as beautiful as you, especially those beautiful emerald eyes, don't you think?"

"Go fuck yourself!" Sho spat at him.

"Tsk tsk," Chan shook his head, "watch your mouth." The gun in his hand suddenly collided hard with Sho's cheek bone, sending the other's face tumbling backwards with its force. The two guys holding Sho pulled him back as Sho coughed blood onto the floor and a large bruise began forming on his cheek.

"See, I hate to destroy things of beauty... but you left me with no choice..."

"Go to hell, bastard!"

"That tongue of yours is full of filth." Chan signaled one of his man standing by, "Cut out his tongue."

The man gladly complied, and pulled out a sharp army knife from his boots. Another approached Sho to pry open his mouth as Sho renewed his struggle fruitlessly. The sharp object was almost making its contact with Sho's tongue and Sho could taste his own blood when suddenly a command was given, "Stop."

The knife was removed, with his tongue still intact. Sho couldn't help but released a small shudder.

"On second thought, I think I should leave that tongue of yours attached. You might be able to put it to better use later." Chan smiled, trailing his fingers across Sho's lips, "I think I shall enjoy fucking that sensual mouth of yours."

_Stuck "it" in, and I will bite it off!_

Chan clearly read the message in those blazing eyes and seemed amused. He laughed, "It is such a waste if I carry out my original plan. No, I have another plan for you. Bind him."

Sho was rewarded with a few kicks in the stomach and a particularly hard smash to his skull as he tried to struggle free once more.

"I shall enjoy taming you." was all Sho heard before he finally lost consciousness.

XXX

Kei stared out at the window. The night was almost gone and Sho still hadn't returned.

Heaving a heavy sigh, he finally sat down on the couch.

Sho had surprised him today. No, not really. He knew somewhere deep in his heart that Sho loves him. He was surprised that Sho thought he loved Yi-che.

Yes, he admitted at looking at Yi-che, but the one that he took the most pleasure and time staring at was none other than Sho himself? He took an interest in Yi-che because of the strong spirit the girl processed. After all that she has been through, she was still able to produce a painting that's full of hope and life. That makes her admirable. But love? No, Kei will never fall in love with her. His love had long ago been given freely to another who has an even stronger spirit. Sho...

**"KEI! HELP ME!"**

Kei bolted up. That was Sho's voice, filled with terror and helplessness and hopelessness.

He rushed to the window and scanned the surrounding. Nothing. There was only stillness in the night air, and it would seem like Kei had imagined Sho's plead for help.

_Sho, please be ok..._

_I lied when I said I don't love you. I was a coward.. I'm merely unable to believe someone as beautiful as you, can love a monster like me..._

To be continued...

Reviews are much appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

Ashes Part 2

Note: _Italic _- thoughts

_Pain is good… Pain is a sign that you are still alive… Pain is welcomed… _

Sho blinked as random quotes from a 20th century old movie that he watched sometimes ago came to his mind out of nowhere. His lips twisted to an angle with much difficulty as he thought of how "unrealistic" movies were. _Pain is definitely not good, and most unwelcome. And as much as I like to be alive, I really don't mind being unconscious right this moment… _

There was a good reason of Sho's preference to be oblivious at this instant. Currently, his upper torso was bared, being stripped to the waist. His well toned back muscles twitched in pain as another whip came down with merciless accuracy against his bare back. His arms were being cuffed to chains hanging down from the ceiling, in the middle of a room which was setup rather like a torture chamber owned by the gangs to punished those that had betrayed them. Sho suspected the room was also being used to satisfy some sick perverted fantasies of the upper management of the gang, as the room was well maintained, modernly decorated and even had some lavish furniture in it.

Sho bit down on his lips to stiffen yet another moan that tried to escape him. He stared hard at the figure sitting comfortably on the luxurious sofa at the corner of the room, casually sipping red wine. Chan, the man who ordered his torture, had been watching him intently for hours as the whipping continued. The whip they used on him was intended to inflict maximum amount of pain with minimal damage to his body, but he could feel his body hitting the limit as his back burned with pain. He was aware of what Chan wanted with him; to break him slowly. He knew the deal; if he begged, the beating would stop. He had to admit it was a tempting thought at times. Yet, his pride and stubbornness had made him refusing to even moaned, let alone begged for any mercy.

"That's enough."

Chan stood up from where he was. The wine glass fell casually onto the carpeted floor, a few drops of the leftover red wine immediately stained the white carpet.

Sho thought it was funny how they put white carpet in a room like this; even just for that one particular corner it was comical. Where he was standing, or being chained, there was no carpet, only hard, cold tile floor. _I guess they don't want to change the carpet too often._ Sho thought as he watched droplets of his blood dripped onto the floor.

There was no sound of footsteps as Chan crossed over the room to stand behind him. Sho could feel the stares of the other fixed on his injured back. Then, a cold finger gingerly traced his wound. Sho couldn't suppress a shiver that ran down his spine as the finger did the same.

"It's really a pity… to leave these ugly marks on such fine skin. Some of it is probably going to scar, I'm afraid…"

"And who should I blame that for?" Sho struggled to get the words out. It was more difficult than he would like, but he managed nonetheless.

"If you would just look me in the eye and asked nicely for me to stop, I would, you know…"

"Hahaha! I would rather have a hundred more scars on my back. It's prettier than looking into your ugly face cause you make me puke!"

Sho mentally congratulated himself that he was still able to insult the other under a situation like this, though it wasn't a very good insult. He should have thought of a better one especially since there was such a high price to pay for it.

_There... Here it comes ..._

"AHHHRRRRRR" Sho would have screamed if he didn't bit down on his lips in time. He choked back the scream as Chan ducked his finger nails into Sho's wound, digging it, making it wider.

Then, just as sudden as the torture came, it was gone, replaced with something wet and warm against his wound. It took Sho a minute to realize Chan was licking his blood off the wound.

Sho twisted in his chain, but unable to escape as his movements were restrained by the chains, plus a hard grip on his shoulder held him in place.

Chan finally let go of the lean body. He moved in front of Sho just in time for the other to see him licking the blood off his lips.

_GROSS!_

Sho felt like he wanted to throw up and almost did. He had seen Kei hundreds of times feasting on others and wiping blood off his lips after the fed, and he had never felt any disgust. He imagined if it was Kei doing the same act now it would probably looked rather sexy…

His attention was forcefully brought back when a hand yanked his head back.

"Who are you thinking about just now?" The voice was dangerous and low.

"None of your business." Sho answered equally.

Chan looked at him for a moment longer.

"Who is this… Kei?"

Sho's head shot up, and he saw a smug look of satisfaction on the other man's face.

"Ah, I see… I got your attention now, don't I?" Chan grinned, "It seemed like pain is not the best method to tame you. What about this Kei guy? I wonder, what would you do, how far would you go for him…?"

"You low, stinky creature. Don't you dare do anything… Bastards! As if you can even get hold of Kei. He will kill all of you."

"Oh really?" Chan seemed rather amused, and more than satisfied at the reaction he had been able to provoke out of Sho. "We will see… Everyone gets careless. Even the best fighter, especially when the fate of someone he cares about is unknown… "

Sho stared defiantly at Chan, unwilling to show the man how much these words shook him. _Kei was a vampire; he would never, ever fell to the hands of a mere man like Chan._ But deep down a voice of uncertainty called out; _what if Kei became careless, just like him? What if they discovered Kei's real identify and attacked during daytime? They merely had to trap him with sunlight and Kei could be in deep trouble. What if they setup some trap with me as bait to lure Kei here?_ The trains of thoughts continued…

_I don't want anything to happen to Kei, even after the hurtful rejection. Please, Kei, stay safe. Don't do anything stupid, or risk anything for me. _Lost in his concern for Kei, Sho didn't even realize when Chan was gone and he was left alone in the dark room, chained and beaten, with no rest to come.

To be continued…


	3. Chapter 3

Part 3

It had been 3 days.

In the dimly lit apartment, Kei peeked at the bright sunny day outside through the blinds. Three extremely long days had passed since Sho walked out of their little apartment. The young man had not come back, and he had not heard from him since. He was about to go mad sitting in the dark room of his picturing Sho had finally decided to walked out of his live. What else would be left in this curse live of his if the one person he lived for left him?

"I. Don't. Love. You."

His own words echoed in his mind. Kei didn't even comprehend how he managed to lie so blatantly and said those cruel words that hurt the only person whom he deeply loved. He could only imagine how Sho must have felt when he heard those words. It wasn't an easy thing for Sho to confess his feelings, and he had ruthlessly rejected him.

Just as Kei thought he couldn't wait another minute longer, there was a knock on the door.

Without thinking, Kei burst up from where he was rooted and zoomed across the room with inhuman speed that he possessed, and flung the door opened.

"Sho…?"

The words died in his throat as he saw Toshi and Son standing outside of the door. His sharp eyesight looked behind them, with the false hope that there might be a slender, familiar body hiding behind the two. He was of course, disappointed.

"What are you looking at?" Toshi turned around following Kei's line of sight. There was nothing but thing air behind him.

Kei turned back into the room, without bothering to utter a word.

Toshi and Son looked at each other but concluded it to be one of Kei's weird moods. They followed him into the apartment.

"Where's Sho?" Toshi asked, looking around the place. "I haven't seen him for a few days, and he didn't answer his phone when I called. We have a job coming up tonight, remember? It was planned last week when we hang out at Son's place."

Kei continued to ignore Toshi, and resumed his earlier stance of peeking through the window.

"Kei?"

Son and Toshi looked at each other.

"Where is Sho?" Son asked this time.

"Where is Sho? Where is SHO? WHERE IS SHO?" Kei exploded. He could see the shocked looks on both men's face, and he felt a tiny bit of satisfaction. He figured they had never seen him loosing temper like this. Well, here's more!

"Can you two stop pestering me with the question 'where is Sho'? How the heck am I supposed to know? It's not like I'm his guardian or something. He is his own person and if he decided to go out, how the hell should I know where he has wondered to?"

Both men just looked at him stunned as Kei continued to bark at them.

"He is NOT here, OK? Can't you see that? Can't you see THAT? Sho is not freaking here!" Kei shouted, "Maybe for all 3 days and nights while I'm waiting for him here, growing sick to the stomach of his whereabouts, he is out there screwing some girl, probably Yi Che…"

That insult provoked a reaction out of Son. He took one step ahead with his fist raised and ready to get into a fight, when Toshi placed himself in between the two.

"Kei," Toshi spoke with a serious tone completely unlike him, "What did YOU do to Sho?"

Dead silence.

The irrational anger that came unexpectedly was gone just as suddenly. Kei hung his shoulder, looking defeated. The already little figure looked almost broken.

"Answer me!" Toshi raised his voice; anger was burning in his eyes. "Did you… hurt him?"

Kei had no answer to that. He had never seen Toshi like this, and frankly, he didn't know if Toshi was worried that he had physically hurt or maybe even 'killed' Sho, or if Toshi was referring to something else. 'Hurt' was a broad term after all. For physical hurt, well, it wasn't an unfounded fear. Even Kei himself sometimes worried about it as he was a vampire that's violent in nature and the blood flowing through Sho's vein was very tempting at times. Despite his promise to always protect Sho from harm, it was one of his repeating nightmares that one day he would lost control and attack the young man. Luckily, for all these years that they lived together, he had always been able to keep his hunger in check. However, this time he had indeed hurt Sho in a way, though not physically but emotionally. Unsure of what Toshi was asking, he remained silent.

"What did you do to him?" Toshi seemed to pick up something, even in Kei's defiant silence, "He… He told you, didn't he?"

Kei stared at Toshi. What did Toshi mean? Did he … know?

"Did he tell you that he loves you?" Tired of speaking in riddles, Toshi finally just asked bluntly.

"… Yes…" Kei nodded. Out of the corner of his eyes, he could just see Son's jaws dropped. He had to resist the incredible urge to burst out laughing at Son's dumbstruck funny expression. The urge was crashed however seeing the serious look on Toshi's face. "Did you already know?"

Toshi nodded. "I know, for a while now. Well, actually I found out about it 2 years ago, when I told him I love him myself."

Seeing how this piece of information shocked both Kei and Son, Toshi laughed. For a moment it seemed like his cheerful self was back, but it wasn't difficult to see through that cheerful mask and how bitter the laughter really was.

"Yes, don't look so shock now! Sho was hot, ok? With that face and body, I couldn't resist. So I told him I love him. And he told me 'no', because he loves you, Kei." The smile, even a forced one, was wiped from Toshi's face. "He was afraid to let you know though. He was afraid once you know, the current relationship between the two of you will be severed, and he won't be able to even stay beside you as a friend."

"I… I told him 'I don't love him'." Kei confessed softly.

"Oh. Then…?"

"… He left. He just ran away and I haven't seen him since."

The look on Toshi's face could only be described as murderous.

"If you have pushed Sho away, pushed him to run away from his home here, I will NEVER forgive you!"

"I will never forgive myself either…" Kei whispered softly.

Awkward silence once again fell between the 3 men.

"Er… What about the job we have tonight?"

Kei looked at Son as if he had said the most stupid thing. Who cares about the job when Sho had disappeared hiding somewhere?

"No, no, don't get me wrong. I'm concern about Sho too. It's just that we all know how Sho likes to vent his anger with guns… so maybe, he will remember there's a job tonight and just showed up to shoot some bad guys…"

That created a small amount of hope for Kei. He had been waiting for days & nights in the apartment for Sho to come back, unwilling to leave the apartment to look for the young man in case Sho returned while he was out there looking for him.

"Might have a better chance of seeing Sho than waiting here…"

The desire to see Sho was overwehelming; Kei didn't contemplate this for too long before making a decision to go to the job tonight for the tiny chancethat Sho might show up as well.

"Son, I want you to stay here… in case Sho came back, make him stay here. Toshi, get ready your drugged pizzas."

X X X

_Something didn't feel right. _

Kei knew it the minute he walked into the place.

Walking down the empty corridor soundlessly, the hair at the back of his neck was pricked. His vampire sense was practically screaming at him that something was wrong.

Every alarm was going off in his head, but he waved them aside. He didn't even bother pulling out the gun. It was still securely tucked behind his back. Danger didn't frighten him, it merely excite him. Pausing in his carefully steps, he sniffed the air briefly. A particular scent had caught his attention. It smelled like… Sho's scent...

The thought that Sho might have already arrived for the job made Kei hurried his steps.

"_He is here…"_ Kei almost sighed aloud.

He probably went for about 10 meters when he stopped in his track again. He picked up another scent in the air; it was faint, but it was there. Something very sweet, something he had wanted for a long time… yet he got butterflies in his stomach every time he smelled it… the scent of Sho's blood…

_There will be hells to pay if someone has hurt Sho… _

To be continued…


	4. Chapter 4

Part 4

It was quiet.

There was not a single sound, not to the insensitive human ears at least. For some different beings, like one with vampire hearings, Kei could hear a great many things. There were sounds of hearts thundering, footsteps carefully trailing behind him, guns clicking and more…

Kei ignored all the sound. He reached out with his senses, straining as much as he could, and searched for the one heartbeat that he was more familiar than his own. He was unable to locate that familiar heartbeat as he continued to follow the trail of Sho's scent. The thought that this heart had stopped beating crept into his mind, but he pushed it firmly behind him. No, he wasn't going to believe that, not until he saw it with his own eyes.

The long corridor came to an end, and there was one single chamber at the end of it. That's where the scent of Sho lingered, although Kei couldn't hear any living breathing person inside the room. Without further hesitation, Kei slammed the door open.

Various things assaulted Kei's senses at once. There was the scent of Sho's blood, which he had already identified, except that it was ten times stronger here. There were also other scents of Sho, which were worse than the scent of blood. No human could detect this, but to Kei, it was clear as day. The scent of Sho's fear, anger, helplessness and… despair…

Kei looked around the room. He could see the chains hanging loosely, with dark stains on it that were clearly Sho's blood.

_So, someone has chained **MY** Sho here…_

Looking around the room for further clues, Kei's eyes found something placed neatly on an empty chair in the room. Kei slowly walked across the room and picked it up with his hand.

It was a braid. Sho's braid. One end of it was loosed, showing that it had been cut off neatly from the owner's head. The braid showed a dark maroon color, instead of the usual light brown. There was also a sticky substance around it. The braid had been dipped in blood; Sho's blood.

Squeezing the braid tightly in his hand, Kei let out a scream.

He felt, rather than heard, as footsteps closed in on him and he was surrounded. There were clicking noises of guns, and some far away voice yelled at him to surrender, to kneel down. He merely stood there; clutching the blood soaked braid in his hand.

Then, all hell broke loose.

X X X

Chan was a careful man. Being in his line of profession, and wanting to live till an old age, one couldn't afford to be not careful enough. He had been glad that he had always been extra careful on several occasions, and none of those times could compare to this one.

He had carefully planned the whole thing. He knew Son, the Chinese who had refused to join him, was connected to Sho and Kei. He had purposefully leaked the information about this place to Son. The trap was laid, and the ambush waited in the dark. There wasn't really a chance of this whole thing going wrong. After all, how could one soul fight against dozens armed men? He was tempted to be in the room, with his new untamed pet by his side, while he watched the bringing down of this man named Kei. However, after some thoughts, he decided against it. Just to be careful, he would wait at a different location and only appeared after Kei had been subdued.

That decision had saved his life.

Sho watched every move of Kei since he entered the building. The hidden cameras were well placed, and showing Kei from various angles.

With a mix of emotions, Sho held his breath as he followed on screen Kei's every expression. He saw Kei walking into the torture room where he was held for 3 days before being transported to this new location. He saw Kei picking up the braid that was forcefully chopped off. He saw Kei's hands shaking, and he assumed it was from anger.

Then, he only saw blurry images, and men letting out their last screams before death.

X X X

"Where is Sho?"

The pitiful man shook his head. He wanted to beg for mercy but his throat was squeezed too tightly.

"Die." The man felt a great force squeezing his throat, and that's the last he knew.

"Where is Sho?"

Another man was caught at the throat. Before he could answer, he was lifted like a toy doll and placed in front as a shield, where 8 bullets entered his body, killing him instantly. Dropping the dead shield, Kei moved with lightning speed towards his next target.

X X X

"Monster…" Chan muttered, as he watched on the screen how Kei finished off his men one by one, not even pulling out his own gun, and not carrying any battle wound.

Sho also stared in awe. He had never seen Kei killing like this before. Kei was always relaxed; wearing a somewhat bored expression, during their regular "jobs". This would be the first time he saw Kei letting loose of the vampire inside of him.

"MONSTER!" Chan shouted this time, and pushed the TV forcefully down to the floor.

The poor electronic slammed onto the concrete floor and ceased functioning.

"What is he? WHAT is he?" Chan ran in front of Sho and demanded.

Sho smiled. He couldn't resist.

"Well, I told you. He WILL kill ALL of you."

Chan stared at him. Sho defiantly stared back.

A fist connected with his chin, slamming his head to the side. The force of the blow almost knocked the chair that he was tied to onto the floor.

"That's a monster… a monster…" Chan continue to chant, while rubbing his fist against the dull pain from hitting his captive.

"A monster… who is also a perfect killing machine." Chan suddenly paused, "and whose little friend is in my claws."

This time Chan turned around and almost grinned.

"You bastard!" Sho cursed, "Kei will never work for you."

"Hahaha" Chan laughed, "Oh yes he will. He will work for me as long as I have you." Chan grabbed Sho's chin and smeared the trickle of blood dripping down on the side of Sho's face. "He will work for me, to keep his pretty little thing alive." His fingers trailed across Sho's lips. Without any thinking, Sho seized the opportunity and bit down hard on Chan's finger.

"Arrrrrrrrrrrrrr!" Chan screamed. He was sure his finger was broken when his men finally "rescued" him from between Sho's teeth. To Sho's disappointment, the finger was merely bloodied bad enough, but still well connected to the owner.

"I have enough of your defiant attitude." Chan slapped him with one hand, while the wounded hand was being tended.

"I will have Kei working as my best killing machine, and you, will warm my beds." Staring into the beautiful emerald eyes, Chan laughed cruelly, "I think it's time for you to learn some respect."

His shadow towered over Sho who was bound to the chair with no hopes to escape.

Sho closed his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Part 5

Crimson Red.

That was the color smearing the little upscale torture chamber. The white carpet was completely ruined, luxurious sofas were torn to pieces, and if one stayed there long enough, one could imagine hearing the dying screams of the men that were killed inside.

One slim-built man stood in the middle of the piles of bodies, some more mutilated than the others. The few men that died towards the end were not as lucky as those killed in the beginning with broken necks or fatally shot. Kei never imagined himself capable of torture. He supposed he discover something else to hate about himself. He had just proven once again that he was a monster. Maybe there was no evil he was incapable of, under the necessary circumstances.

In his mind, Kei knew that there was nothing that he wouldn't do in order to save Sho's life. Well, maybe saved that one thing. He didn't think he could change Sho into a monster like him, even if Sho's life was hanging by a thread. He couldn't bear seeing the fervor in Sho's eyes extinguished.

"Help me, Kei!" The frantic call he heard that first night of Sho's disapperance was not his imagination. He had come to believe that it was indeed Sho calling out to him. As much as he hated his vampire nature, he now regretted not exploring all his abilities. Perhaps his kind was capable of telepathy? Pondering on that possibility, Kei wondered about ways to locate Sho. That was when he heard Sho for the 2nd time in 3 days, and it was a message that sent chill down his chest.

This time, there was only one word, "KEI!"

It was a desperate and frantic call for help. Waves of anger, hatred hit him next, followed by despair. Then, as sudden as they came, the voice and the emotions of Sho were gone.

Fear gripped his heart. He had to find Sho before it was too late.

X X X

Sho did not believe in dreams. He had learned from a very early age not to dwell in dreams and hopes. After all, none of those things existed in his life. At a tender age, his parents either died or abandoned him. He was left living on the streets along with his brother. Every single day, he struggled to stay alive. He was a little boy without any dreams or hopes; what he had was a feverish wish to survive.

Then one day, Kei came along. The vampire brought a small hope into Sho's tough life. Things got better, and from that little hope Sho began building dreams. He grew emotionally attached to Kei; his protector, mentor and best friend. He was getting so comfortable with this little dream that he even allowed himself to start falling in love, and even hoped that his love would be returned.

"A dream was merely that… a fantasy that doesn't last." Sho muttered to no one but himself. "It's time to wake up… and stop believing that Kei will come rescuing. This is Mallepa. There's not supposed to be any dreams around here. No, no dreams… There were only nightmares in Mallepa." Pain shook through his body, but he welcomed it with open arms; it was an effective distraction from other things that were haunting him at the back of his mind.

Sho's ears picked up footsteps approaching the door of the little room he was held.

_No! They cannot be back so soon already, can they?!! _

His emerald eyes shut out and he lied still, pretending to be as lifeless as possible.

Two sets of footsteps came closed to his seemingly unconscious body.

"Doctor, take a look." A man said, "Treat him. I don't think the boss would be happy if he died."

Carefully opening one eye, Sho took in the 2 people standing in front of him. One was clearly Chan's man. Sho had seen him several times already, and none of those times was exactly a pleasant memory for Sho. The other man looked like an old Chinese man, and with the way he was being addressed, Sho believed he was a doctor.

"Looked like they have assumed that I'm wounded and powerless now, especially after what Chan did…" Sho's nails dug into his own palm, cutting that thought short, "This guy was so careless to come in alone, and his gun was right within my reach, and with my hands cuffed to the front and not at my back, I could definitely try something… "

With a speed that would make Kei proud, Sho opened his eyes and jumped from where he was. Before Chan's man could recover from the shock, Sho managed to pull the gun out of his reach, and sent a flying kick to the guy's head.

The man fell to the floor, unconscious.

Sho crouched on the ground. The kick had taken a toll on his battered body. He would have much preferred to shoot the guy. That would definitely be easier and more satisfying, but he couldn't risk using the gun without a silencer and drawing other guards.

Still half kneeling on the floor, he pointed the gun at the doctor, who thankfully hadn't made a noise since.

"Search him." Sho ordered, gesturing towards the body he just knocked out. "Keys, for the cuff."

The old man obliged.

But whatever little luck Sho lived by, he must have used it up when he successfully snatched the gun and knocked Chan's man out. This man didn't have the keys for his cuff.

"What is the chance of me getting out of here alive and undetected, while my wrists are cuffed, and I have only one gun?" Sho bitterly laughed. He slammed the handle of the gun against the old man's head, and the doctor joined Chan's man lying on the floor.

Pausing at the door, Sho tried the doorknob, making sure the door was unlocked. He then pressed his ear against the door for a few minutes, until he was satisfied that there was no one outside. With one final look at Chan's man lying on the floor, Sho surpressed a strong urge to shoot the man.

"There will be a time to extract vengeance. Now I need to make it out of here first. Or die trying." He added as an afterthought.

As soundless as he could manage, Sho slipped his tattered body out of the door and into the unknown.


	6. Chapter 6

Part 6

Creeping through the long, dark corridor, Sho was glad that his escape had gone unnoticed, so far. He could only thank whatever gods out there looking after him tonight. He was disappointed at the speed he was able to move though. A distance that would be covered in less than one minute at a normal walk was taking him 20 times longer. If only taking each step wasn't as painful as it was…

Finally reaching the end of the corridor, he paused and peaked over the stairs leading downstairs. That was the only way out, and unfortunately he could also hear some faint voices of people talking. From what his ears could pick up, it was more than just one or two people. There was probably a group of them.

Sho was thinking intensely. He had two options.

Option one. He could try sneaking through the group of Chan's men, maybe 6 or 7 of them, in his battered condition where he could walk but not run and taking each step hurts like hell.

Option two. He could wait until someone had discovered his escape, then tried to sneak through the group of Chan's men, maybe 6 or 7 of them, in his battered condition where he could walk but not run and taking each step hurts like hell.

Option one sounded good to him.

Sho applauded himself for his weird sense of humor in a grim situation like this. He knew very well that he would rather die fighting then go back to that little cell enduring what Chan had in mind for him.

Taking a deep breath, he began descending down the stairs as soundlessly as he could manage.

XXX

Sho was correct in his assessment of the situation downstairs. At the end of the stairs, there was another long corridor leading to the outside of the building. At the side of the corridor, there was an open door connecting to a large room with 6-7 fully armed men. At the outside of the building, there were 3 guys gathering near the door, obviously watching the entrance to prevent any unauthorized entry or exit.

The situation wasn't too bad. This level of security was nothing less than what he expected. The only problem was that he wasn't in any condition to take on a fight with 10 well-equipped guys. He may be able to sneaked pass the guys in the room, but he will surely be noticed by the guys at the door, and when they made any noises, the roomful of men will also be alerted.

He needed a plan.

However, time ran out on him before he could come up with something. The sound of alarms ran off in the entire building. The guy he knocked out must have come around.

Taking a quick look around for a place to hide, Sho found none.

So be it!

There was only one thing left to do – he dashed forward towards the door.

_Bang! Bang! Bang!_

The glass door shattered into pieces from the impact of the bullets. The 3 guards outside of the door were shot to death before they even had a chance to raise their guns.

In an instance, Sho was outside.

At this same time, he heard bullets from behind.

Dodging, a few of the bullets passed him safely by mere inches. Two bullets found their targets; one grazed his arm and another hit his leg, but Sho barely felt the pain. He had pushed himself way over the limit of his body, and only the adrenaline rush was sustaining him now. He won't last, but it didn't matter. If he was going to die, then at least he wanted to die outside of a confining cell.

Rolling over on the ground, Sho came up facing the enemy. His handcuffed hands holding the gun and he fired the rest of the shots.

3 more bodies hit the ground, dead.

_Click! Click! Click! Click! Click!_

He had used up his last bullet.

Throwing the gun away, he tried to get up from the ground but his wounded leg was unable to hold him up. He let out a painful moan as the leg gave up on him and he fell onto the ground once again.

The remaining men laughed behind him.

"Hahaha! What happened? No more bullets?" One man taunted, then joined by another "What's that? You think you're going to crawl your way out of here?"

Sho ignored them. He concentrated on crawling forward. His wounded leg was now bleeding profusely and he left a bloody trail.

Laughter and footsteps were soon right behind him.

One of the men put his feet out on top of Sho's back, then pushed down hard, pressing Sho onto the ground.

"Where do you think you're going?" The man leaned down to murmur close to Sho's ears, "It's time to bring you back to your cage and be a good pet."

A flash of light, and the man gave a scream that didn't quite leave his throat. His hands reached for his throat, feeling the stickiness there in disbelief, before looking down at Sho again. In Sho's handcuffed hand was a long shred of glass. There were shreds of glasses everywhere on the ground from the shattered glass door. Sho must have picked this long, sharp one up while he crawled on the ground. He didn't seem to be registering the pain as the glass cut into his palm with the way he was holding it tightly.

His emerald eyes sparkled seeing the disbelief on the face of the dying man in front of him. Yes, he had managed to slit the throat of this guy who moved too close. That offered some comfort to him. Unfortunately, he didn't think he could take down any more men. But he had also promised himself he would either escape, or die trying. Looked like it's going to be "die trying".

Sho grinned, and turned the shred of glass towards his own beating heart.

TBC…


	7. Chapter 7

Part 7

Noises.

They were faint, but consistent, like a hive of bees buzzing around his ears, refusing to go away; denying him from slipping back to the comfortable state of oblivious. He wanted quietness, a total silence would be even better, so that he could go back to being completely unaware of his current state and shut out any painful memory. That was his much preferable option. However, these noises were doing a very good job keeping him half awake and partly aware of his surroundings.

"How … … doing?"

"So… blood… die… heart…"

"Bloody… … … injuries… … so bad… …"

The noises made no sense to him. He wanted to yell at the noises to leave him alone. If he was dead now, shouldn't he at least be allowed some peace and quiet? Or was he in hell and this hell was just too noisy for his taste?

"Don't … … loud! The doctor … this…. crucial… whether … make it …"

The buzzing died down a bit after that. Sho was very grateful for that. Finally, he was granted some peace and quiet. He was sure this would be just what every dead man wanted.

"Shit! I think he's awake!" A voice suddenly became all excited, "Kei! Get over here!"

Sho winced at the sharp voice assaulting his sensitive hearings.

He tried to open his eyes. It was unsuccessful, but apparently his effort sparked a stream of chaos in the room. Blurry shadows floated in front of him. Some bodies were pushed out of the way roughly… Somebody fell to the floor and yelled.

With sheer determination, Sho commanded his heavy eyelids to work and opened his eyes.

XXX

"He lost so much blood. It was a miracle that he woke up just now. Even if it was just for a few minutes, it was impressive. A very good sign…" Toshi babbled happily. He and Son were standing outside of the hospital room. Kei had his back against them as he was still staring at the figure inside the room.

"I thought he was surely gone… when Kei carried him to the car, covered in blood, I thought… the worst had happened…"

"Yeah, only Sho is lucky enough to escape death…"

Kei listened to their conversation. His hand involuntarily tightened into ball of fists. Toshi and Son were both idiots. Didn't they see it? Didn't they notice?

Kei closed his eyes. In his mind, the terrible ordeal a few nights ago began replaying itself.

XXX

After killing off Chan's ambush at the torture chamber, and hearing Sho's cry in his head, Kei knew his only way to Sho was to depend on this vampire nature even though he despised it. He closed off all his other senses, and focused on the sense of smell alone, searching for Sho's scent. He needed to follow the trail to trace which way Sho might have been taken to from here.

He nailed it down to a general direction that Chan's men have taken. Calling Son, he found out the hideout places for Chan in that area.

He then started checking out each of the locations Son had informed him. At the 3rd location, the scent of blood caught his attention even from far away. He rushed over there, and the scene he saw nearly froze him on the spot.

Sho was holding a shred of glass, and was grinning like a maniac while stabbing the glass towards his own heart.

"NO!!"

Kei screamed. Without any conscious thoughts, his body flung into action. He closed the distance with his inhuman speed, and stuck out his hand.

He felt a searing pain in his palm. He had placed his palm across Sho's chest, covering and protecting Sho's heart. The shred of glass that was meant to stab right into Sho's heart cut through his sweaty palm, and into Sho's flesh, but it was not a deep wound against Sho since Kei's hand took most of the damage.

Kei retrieved his hand with the piece of glass stuck in his palm. He let out a sigh of relieve as he realized the heart wound would not be fatal; completely ignorant of the pain in his hand.

Sho didn't seem to have a grasp of what just happened. All of his energy spent, Sho began felling backward. Kei reached out with his good hand and caught the falling body. Carefully lying Sho down, Kei stood up slowly, still paying no heed to the piece of glass stuck in his palm or the blood that was dripping down. He took in the men surrounding him. These men would pay dearly for their crime against Sho. He would make sure each one of them paid with their blood. Literally.

It took a mere 10 minutes to kill off all of them, even with his injured hand. He would have killed them more slowly to make them experience the pain, except Sho was still lying unconscious on the floor and needed to be attended to.

With the last man down, Kei pulled free the shred of glass from his hand, wincing at the pain.

Then, he scooped up the limb body and brought the young man to where Toshi and Son were waiting.

The wait at the hospital was the worst part. Sho had lost too much blood. The doctors informed them. He might have been brain dead for a few seconds, which means, Sho could become a vegetable. They were told. Sho might never wake up again.

Kei refused to accept this. He stayed in the room, saying no to give up hope. However, as time passed, fears grabbed him. What if the doctors were right?

He contemplated his choices. A forbidden thought crept into his mind: Make Sho a vampire. Save him. You could do it. You have the power.

Trying all his might, Kei pushed that thought to the back of his mind and concentrated on hoping. Maybe Sho would just open that beautiful emerald eyes of his…

Sho did. Miraculously, 2 days into waiting, Sho opened his eyes.

Kei felt he was about to burst with happiness, until he saw Sho's eyes.

The fire was gone from those beautiful eyes. It was replaced with something lifeless, something that felt … dead, like a fire that had burnt out and became a pile of dull, lifeless ashes.

Kei's smile froze on his face. Just before he could react in anyway, Sho closed his eyes and drifted back to unconsciousness.

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

Part 8

_In a dimly lit room, Sho's hands were tied up behind his back. _

_He was completely naked, sitting on the floor in the middle of the room. The tile floor sent a chill against his bare skin. _

_Concentrate! Concentrate on breathing! Sho told himself. It was difficult. When did a simple task such as breathing become such a challenge? Let's focus on that. Breath in, breathe out. Kept on breathing, and he will get out of here alive. Somehow. Kei will come get him. _

_Hahaha!!_

_Evil laughers rang around his ears. He opened his eyes and saw the face of Kei in front of him, laughing away. _

"_I. Don't. Love. You." Kei whispered against his ears, "I don't love you. Not now, not ever. Oh, I forgot, you don't have "forever". You miserable human will be gone before I know it. Do you know why I refuse to make you a vampire? It's not because of this curse thing mumbo-jumbo! I just don't love you enough to share my gift with you. Sharing eternity with you? No way! I want to do that with someone I love. Maybe Ye-che? She was a much better option compared to you. You have kept me to this wretched city for too long. I longed to be free and gone from here. When your miserable little life ended, it will be time for me to go… Ah I see, Chang has taken quite a liking at you. Maybe I will leave you in his care, and I can be gone…"_

_Kei! Sho screamed in his mind. Even if you don't love me, you can't possibly want to leave me with this monster! Do you know what he did to me? Don't you care?_

"_No, I don't care. I. Don't. Care. Sho, I'm sorry, but I don't care..."_

"Look! He is coming around." An excited voice announced to the occupants in the room, "Back off a bit you guys! Give this near death guy some room, will you?"

/That sounded like Toshi./ Sho thought as he drifted between dream and reality.

"Come on, Sho," a more quiet voice urged on, "Wake up for us."

/That sounded like … Son/ Sho thought.

The room was quite for a few moments.

/Shouldn't there be a 3rd voice?/ A voice that was very different from his own deep, seductive one, but just as pleasant to listen to? The desire to know whether the owner of that voice was within the proximity or not was great enough to force Sho to will himself to wake up.

"Sho! Finally! It's about time that you came around!"

Sho looked around, turning just a bit. In front of him was his childhood friend Toshi; standing next to Toshi was Son. Ye-Che was standing a little bit behind the two.

Seeing Sho's searching expression, Toshi quickly guessed and filled him in, "Kei's not here. You were out for almost 4 days now. He was here the whole time. I sort of, forced him to leave for a bit just now. You know, to _eat_. But I'm sure he will be back very soon."

"Of course." There was no change in Sho's expression, but Toshi thought something important just happened. He was overjoyed with his friend's victory in the battle against death, but as the happiness settled, he was beginning to notice something amiss among his friend. He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. Maybe the air around Sho was a bit different? But god knows what type of torture the guy endured under Chang's 'care'; it was expected Sho would need a little bit of time to recover. Toshi was certain his best friend would be healed and back to himself in no time.

"Sho."

A lean figure seemed to have appeared out of thin air and standing close to the door.

"Kei."

Sho greeted him with a small nod of his head. Just as he expected, Kei made no move to come closer to him. That's just fine with him. He turned his attention to the only girl in the room.

"Ye-che? Anything to eat?"

"No food for you!" Toshi barked, "You are far too weak yet. Liquid! That's all that you're going to have."

"Liquid?" Raising an elegant eyebrow of his, Sho demanded, "Liquor sounds better."

XXXXX

Kei retreated from the room.

Sho had changed.

Toshi and Son didn't know. They didn't realize. However, Kei had. He suspected Ye-che felt the same. That girl could be surprisingly observant sometimes. Kei didn't forget how this girl came to lose her voice. Being unable to speak, Ye-che could learn a whole lot of the people around her while they were talking away, lost in their conversations. Kei wondered if he should ask the girl if she had seen the same frightening change in Sho as he had.

/Don't worry./

Kei looked up and saw Ye-che lightly touching his elbow.

/He will be fine./

Kei thought he could hear Ye-che's words of comfort. It may just be all in his head, but he felt slightly better. He gave the girl a gentle smile.

Sho stared out of the window. He didn't understand why he was placed in a room with clear windows that allowed him to see the scene outside. The tenderness between the two was not exactly a surprise to him, but he preferred not seeing this with his own eyes.

/Not that it really mattered./

Sho laughed silently and closed his eyes. He thought he would have a hard time falling asleep with what he just witnessed. Surprisingly, he fell asleep within minutes and it was a completely dreamless slumber.

TBC…


End file.
